//------------------------------//
// Chapter 16: Confessions 
// Story: Equal Equestria Enlightenment 
// by stupidhand14 
//------------------------------//


Starlight Glimmer's Diary Day 405

The second to last day of the festival arrived sooner than I would have expected. I woke up later than usual, and found the Twilight already up and seated at the table.
"Good morning, Twilight," I greeted her. "How are you?"
"Good. I picked up some muffins from Sugar Belle," she said, gesturing at the table which had three plates: one filled with muffins, one containing crumbs, and the last was mine.
"Thank you," I told her as I sat to eat breakfast. "By the way, Twilight... I will need your help later today, after the ceremony."
"O-okay, what time will that be?"
"I don't know. I'll come and get you when I need you, though."
"What do you need my help with?" Twilight asked. She was looking intently at me, as if trying to read my mind.
I smiled. "You will see, but don't worry, it's just a little assistance I need."
The rest of breakfast was quiet, with only a few words being exchanged. After we were done, I bid Twilight a farewell and walked outside. There was one pony waiting outside; Applejack.
"Good morning, Applejack," I greeted her.
"Howdy, Starlight," she replied. "Hey, where did ya get those apples to make the cider?"
"It was someplace called Sweet Apple Acres. Why do you ask?"
"That's why they're so familiar!" she cried out. "I live... lived there." I could see a deep sadness in her eyes.
"Oh... Do you want to go back there, Applejack?" I asked, concerned.
She didn't say anything for a few seconds. "Yup, I do," she said simply.
I thought about revealing something to her, but decided against it. "Talk to me tomorrow, okay?"
"Huh? Uh... okay, sure."
After that, and seeing to some other ponies' needs, it was about 11:37 when I was finished with all my errands.
The heat of the day was already bearing down on everypony by the stage. It was hot, sweaty, and nearly unbearable. Luckily, a few more barrels of cider had been brought out, and many ponies were drinking to stay cool.
I strode up to the lectern on stage, the eyes of everypony slowly turning away from conversation and up towards me. After I had most of the crowd's attention, I announced, "Day three is now starting!" Everypony cheered and stomped their hooves at my words. 
Day three was the day of secrets, but not keeping them. No, rather, day three was for the exposing of secrets, to share them with your friends. This would strengthen bonds and possibly explain mysteries that some ponies had, such as playing a prank on somepony and not admitting it before the festival.
Most of the declarations of guilt were unimportant. Trivial things that I won't bother wasting the ink on. However, there were a few that stood out. The first was Sugar Belle and a few others confessing as a group. It had been an hour since we had started when four fillies and two stallions got up onto the stage.
Sugar Belle took the initiative and spoke first. "We were making plans on betraying the town, and tell outside ponies about us and our secrets. I am so sorry, everpony!" This brought a collective gasp from the crowd. Everypony, but I, was shocked at her confession. Murmurs started throughout the crowd, and I knew that Sugar Belle had lost a lot of respect from the other ponies. All according to plan.
The remaining ponies on stage spoke as well, though their speeches were met with much more moderate responses. Before anypony else could get onto the stage, I noticed some ponies trotting towards the town.
"Everypony, let's take a small break," I commanded the crowd before they could start applauding. "We can hear all the other friends' admittances later." With that, most ponies broke up into their small groups. I am not certain, but I suspect many were talking about Sugar Belle.
I waited until the newcomers were closer before making my way towards them. It was one of the groups of guardsponies that went out in search of our lost citizens. As soon as they got closer, I could see it was Storm Pedal that they had returned with. As soon as I saw who it was, I rushed to greet her.
After pleasantries, and putting on a good face to show the guardsponies, I turned my attention to said stallions.
"Thank you for bringing her back...?"
"Oh, Crimson Moon. And it was no trouble at all," Crimson Moon responded. "Hey, mind if I talk to you later today?"
"Of course. You can meet me at my cottage at around 5:00, if that is okay with you?"
"Yes, that would be fine. Thank you," he finished before walking very quickly away with a few of his comrades.
After making sure that Crimson Moon and his friends were going away from the village, I returned to the crowd.
"Okay, everypony. We can continue once more!" I told the crowd. Most of the ponies quieted and looked back up to the stage, to see who would go up next. The pony that chose to brave that stage was a surprise. It was Applejack.
"Howdy y'all... uh..." she cleared her throat before continuing, "I would just like to confess somethin'... I tried to get word to my family when I first became friends with y'all. I tried to tell them... to send Celestia and Luna," Applejack paused as if struggling something. "To... burn this place to the ground and use it as a refuse dump."
To say that the crowd was shocked was akin to saying a filly is a full grown mare. I saw more than one jaw drop, mainly from her own family. However, I saw something else in their eyes. Was it, perhaps, pride? But that wouldn't make sense. I decided to make her risk worth it and began the applause myself. After seeing me appreciate her honesty, everypony joined me in giving that confession what it was worth. I could tell that Applejack was grateful, her eyes spoke it all. It was almost too easy to read what she was thinking.
A few more ponies went up, but none of them were interesting. Then Pinkie Pie approached the stage.
"Okay, so, I kinda gave out two dozen muffins to Shining Armor and the guardsponies for free and noted them as being used for the festivities."
I couldn't help but roll my eyes. It was so unimportant it makes me wonder if I should, perhaps, have regulated what ponies were allowed to confess to. Oh well, I'll have to plan that for next time.
The next pony up to the stage was Twilight Sparkle. She breathed in out and briefly before speaking.
"I lied to everypony in the beginning. I didn't accept what true friendship was when you accepted me into your--- our community. I know it now, and will try to be a better pony than I was." She looked out to the crowd with a determined expression on her face.
Nearly everypony applauded her confession. That was definitely a step in the right direction to make more friends. She seems to finally accept the truth.
After the few remaining confessions, I went onto the stage.
"Well everypony, I believe this has been very eventful and emotional day for all of us," I told the crowd. "We have had a very eventful start to our town, and I would like to announce something before everypony here. I will not be running for reelection as mayor." At this information, everypony began to murmur in shock.
"Starlight isn't running for mayor?"
"Who is going to become mayor now?"
"Why isn't she going to be mayor?"
I slammed a hoof against the lectern to get the audience's attention.
"Everypony," I began, "I would like to be the first to nominate a pony as mayor. Double Diamond, would you kindly accept my nomination?" Double Diamond looked at me in shock for a few seconds.
"Yes, I will accept your nomination, Starlight," he answered after recovering.
"Thank you, Double Diamond. If anypony else would like to nominate somepony else, now is the time. Voting is in four days." There were no other nominations. "Then with that, I will excuse everypony to the relax for the rest of the day."
I walked off stage only to be met with a very distressed Double Diamond.
"Why? Why did you give me your job?" he asked me. His eyes were filled with horror at the prospects of his new job, and I could tell he was not looking forward to it. He also looked quite pale.
"Because, I need somepony I can trust and you have been helping me with running this town. You probably know as much as I do about it, so it only makes sense you should be the new mayor." Double Diamond blushed at my compliment.
"N-no, I d-don't think I was really that much help... I mean, really, you do so much, i just did the small things."
"Double Diamond, I trust you to do this. Please, accept it. You have done a lot of good for this town. You deserve this," I told him with a comforting smile. He looked a bit less pale than before, but it would take some time for him to adjust to his new position.
"But... what will you do now?" he asked, concern filling his eyes.
"I will tell everypony that at the end of this festival. I will still get the funding of our treasury, right?"
"Of course. I would never take that from you. It is yours, should you need it."
"Thank you... Now, if you don't need me, I have an appointment with some of the guardsponies."
"Okay. Shall I see you later, Starlight?" he asked hopefully.
"That'd be nice," I said before turning and walking away. It was about 4:30, so I had a few minutes before I had to meet with Crimson Moon. At 4:50, I made my way over to where he was staying. He seemed to have been standing there a while, by the way he was looking off into space as if his thoughts were somewhere else entirely.
"Ahem," I cleared my throat when I came close. That seemed to bring him out of his thoughts. He looked at me and grimaced.
"Sorry about that, I was lost in thought," he said, trying to explain himself.
"No, no, It's okay. I am a few minutes early anyways," I said. It seemed to relax him. "So, what did you wish to talk about?"
"Well... Uh... how do I say this...? What would it take to become part of this town?"
"Well, you'd have to go through with the cutie unmarking. Then we'd build you a house and you'd have to get a job. I assume you'll be a guard here...?"
"Probably. It is what I'm trained for," he sighed, in sadness, perhaps. "How does it feel, the cutie unmarking. And after it?"
"The cutie unmarking will strip you of your cutiemark. It will be as easy as pulling something off. But the more you, yourself, help it, the easier and faster it is," I informed him. He shifted around slightly and looked relieved at this revelation. "Afterwards, you will have true friendship. I can't exactly describe what equality is like, but you will be better for it."
"And what happens to my cutie mark?"
"I'm afraid I can't say. It's a secret, for now. If you choose to have it removed, I can assure you that you'll be able to visit your cutie mark whenever." Crimson Moon stood silently for a few seconds. He seemed to be debating something to himself. After a few seconds, he looked back towards me.
"Thank you for this information. I'll.... I'll talk to you some other time."
"Of course. Have a good night, Crimson Moon."
I looked at the clock, and saw that it was only 5:19. Shaking my head slightly, I decided to go find Double Diamond. He was with Party Favor when I finally found him.
"Hello, Double Diamond. Might I speak with you for a minute?"
"Sure," he replied before bidding a good night to Party Favor.
"Do you have the herbs on you?" I asked once we were out of earshot.
"Yes, I do. Do you still want them?" I nodded. "Okay, here," Double Diamond said as he gave me a small bag.
"How are those friends watching Twilight doing? Have they found anything out?" I asked after hiding the bag.
"Nothing. They say she's being a model citizen," he told me. She is recognizing the truth.
"Thank you. Now, I apologize for excusing myself so quickly, but I have business to take care of. Good night."
I went back to the warehouse, and noted that there was only enough cider for one more day, plus the one I had put to the side. Perfect. I dumped the contents of the bag into the special barrel. It bubbled slightly, but didn't appear to ruin the cider at all.
I turned back, locking the warehouse behind myself as I exited. I found Twilight Sparkle talking with some of the less active members of the town.
"Twilight," I said as I approached. "It's time for that help I told you I needed from you."
"Oh, okay," she replied. After giving a farewell to her companions, she followed me back to my house.
"Why did you give up being mayor?" Twilight asked as we were walking.
"Because I have to do something else," I answered her, honestly. "You said you have a castle, and many ponies visit you, right?"
"Y-yes, that's correct... Why do you ask?" Twilight replied. She looked at me nervously.
"I think it's time to reveal our ideas to the world. True friendship must be spread, and I think its starting point should be the home of the Princess of Friendship," I said, a fire burning in my eyes. "You are okay with that, right?"
"Um... yeah... sure," she noncommittally promised."
"You will make the speech to introduce me, so we need to start writing it today."
We spent the next four hours writing the speech before tiredness made our efforts minimal and more hurt than help. My only hope is that it will take Shining Armo
I was wrong. She has not been improving, she's been plotting. While I was writing this, I felt a tugging on the ward I had set up. I assumed it was nothing, but then it snapped. I immediately bolted upright and rushed downstairs. The room where Twilight was staying was open. The bed was vacant. After muttering a curse, I galloped out the back door. In the cold darkness outside, I could see a silhouette of a pony going away from my house. I gave chase immediately.
The other pony turned their head as I was approaching. I could tell the pony was a unicorn, but there was little light coming from the moon. The mysterious figure began to gallop towards the edge of the village. It did not get far before I grabbed it with my magic. I am ashamed to say that adrenaline and anger were both enhancing my senses and dulling my mind. As soon as I had captured her in my magic, I levitated her back to my house.
In the light of my house, I could see that it was, indeed, Twilight Sparkle who I had captured. My anger, maybe rage, only grew from there. I took her to the back room, her old room, before I released her. I quickly put up a bubble of silence to block out any noise I would make.
"How dare you?!" I shouted at the frightened pony before me. I could not keep my anger in check. I sent a magical blast at her, hitting her in the chest. She cried out in pain as she hit the wall.
"After all that we have done, after all that I have done to create harmony in this village, and you try to destroy it?!" I attacked her again, producing more cries of pain. By then, my anger was in complete control. "You're friends accepted our ideals, and I thought you had seen the truth... but you instead lied to all your friends, and tried to ruin our happiness!"
"This isn't happiness," Twilight cried out in between sobs. "This is cruel---"
"You have no right to speak! You lied to everypony in town for your own selfish ambition!" Twilight continued to cry in pain as I sent yet another blast at her, this time pinning her to the wall.
"You had been given freedom and privileges that you didn't deserve. From now on, you will always be with me or in this house. If I even have one suspicion that you are trying to escape or undermine me, then I will deal with you again."
With that, I finally let her down. She was still crying, but I was apathetic about her. I turned and locked the door behind me. She doesn't deserve the right of civility. I am, even now, upset by how I handled the situation. But what is done cannot be undone, so I must continue onward. For the better future.